It's the complete opposite of an existentialist's nightmare.
Online dating boils down to a series of yes/no binary decisions: decision to contact or avoid, decision to go on a date, and decision to continue dating.
Our decisions are the crux of free will.
In contrast, an arranged marriage is an existential nightmare because there is no choice by the individuals involved. Unless of course, they themselves make the choice to love that person no matter what.
>In contrast, an arranged marriage is an existential nightmare because there is no choice by the individuals involved. Unless of course, they themselves make the choice to love that person no matter what.
I wonder if the 'island effect' applies to arranged marriages, and they end up working because of it. I think if two people are in the same, short standard deviation range of whatever criteria (looks, wealth, charm, etc) you use, its likely that they start to like each other no matter what.. (involuntarily ala love marriage)
Given that in the long term, loving someone is almost definitely a choice (ie something you decide to do and then work towards) I have trouble seeing how it could be anything but obvious that even in an arranged marriage you can see two people genuinely loving each other.
Not sure i got the answer to the question "Why Online Dating Can Feel Like Such an Existential Nightmare" from the article. Is it the "paradox of choice" ? This article goes from "But the most common responses to my post were not hearty cheers. They were lamentations about the spiritual bankruptcy of modern love." to eh, online dating isn't so bad, at least minorities and lgbtq folks can find people.
I think the article was garbage for this reason. The author seems more concerned with tut-tutting at people who dislike online dating than providing any real analysis whatsoever.
Online dating boils down to a series of yes/no binary decisions: decision to contact or avoid, decision to go on a date, and decision to continue dating.
Our decisions are the crux of free will.
In contrast, an arranged marriage is an existential nightmare because there is no choice by the individuals involved. Unless of course, they themselves make the choice to love that person no matter what.